The present invention relates generally to a telephone switching system which employs an automatic call distributor (ACD) and, more particularly, to a telephone switching system and method wherein data is transmitted between an ACD and agent computer terminals over a computer network and wherein incoming telephone calls routed by the telephone switching system to the agent computer terminals are subsequently controlled by control signals generated by the agent computer terminals and transmitted to the ACD over the computer network to provide first party call control.
Telephone switching systems employing automatic call distributors (ACD) are increasingly used by businesses to automatically route incoming customer calls to available agents. ACD systems generally include a multiport switch controlled by a central processing unit to interconnect external telephonic units of an external telephonic network with internal telephonic units. An example of such an ACD system is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,140,611 issued to Jones et al. on Aug. 18, 1992, entitled "Pulse Width Modulated Self-Clocking and Self-Synchronizing Data Transmission and Method for a Telephonic Communication Network Switching System", the disclosure of which is hereby incorporated by reference.
In order to further increase the flexibility of telephone switching systems, manufacturers have attempted, with some success, to design systems which permit agents to be stationed practically anywhere. However, all of the current systems use a type of network computer to transmit data relating to the incoming telephone calls to remote agent computer terminals. The network computer also provides third party call control. Typically, the network computer and ACD communicate through a proprietary interface. The ACD transmits data relating to an incoming telephone call over the proprietary interface to the network computer. The network computer formats the data for retransmission over a computer network to a selected agent computer terminal. Similarly, instructions from the agent computer terminal are transmitted over the computer network to the network computer which formats the instructions in accordance with the proprietary interface for transmission to the ACD.
Three significant disadvantages are noticeably present in these prior systems. First, the systems require relatively expensive network computers which add to the their cost. Second, if the system owner desires to separately purchase a network computer, the ACD manufacturer will need to disclose the proprietary interface between the network computer and the ACD. ACD manufacturers may be reluctant to disclose this information. Finally, prior systems which utilize remote agent computer terminals over a computer network provide only third party call control.
Accordingly, there is a need in the art for a telephone switching system employing an ACD to route incoming telephone calls and to transmit data relating to the telephone calls to remote agent computer terminals over a computer network, such as a local area network (LAN) or wide area network (WAN), which uses an open interface, which does not require a designated system computer and which provides first party call control.